THIS Is Why Will & Kate’s Wedding Was Such A Big Deal

Five years ago, the most traditional and celebratory display of matrimony of our modern age had us entranced. The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was watched by many millions around the globe. (While there is lots of data for individual platforms and countries, the worldwide tallies vary widely between 300 million and an astonishing two billion.) No matter how many zeros are tacked on to ratings numbers, the event was a phenomenon.

And now, we're celebrating Will and Kate's fifth year anniversary — and taking a look at the particular combination of cultural forces that made the 2011 royal wedding the highest-rated fairy-tale wedding of our time. Here's what we found.